Mrs. Hughes’s ELA classes have been busy! From deciding which door to open at the cliffhanger ending of “The Lady or the Tiger?”, to the irony of lost things in “The Diamond Necklace,” and man v man challenges in “The Most Dangerous Game,” our eighth graders had the opportunity to swim around the waters of unusual short stories. They analyzed theme and setting, character development and plot, all while thinking critically and formatting those thoughts into well-written pages. They finished stories, connected with history, and learned the importance of formatting and following directions. They leaped head first into dystopian controls and archetypes with Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One and prepared for their next rebellion. They learned the horrors of the Holocaust as we read The Boy in the Striped Pajamas and connected the importance of keeping history fresh. The students recently finished The Outsiders and it was a hit! SE Hinton's classic coming-of-age story was well-received and the students took to group and independent discussion to analyze the text. In addition, we are currently in the middle of a “Who said it?” challenge. The students have been broken up into teams and are tasked with identifying current song/rap lyrics and classic lines of poetry. The groups that correctly identified the lyric or line, have moved on to round two where they will be exposed to a new set of lyrics and lines. As their teacher, it has been fun to see the lightbulbs go off as they realize modern music and classical poetry aren’t all that dissimilar. As the year comes to a close, and the students say goodbye to middle school, it’s heartening to know most everyone found something to love about literature this year.
The sixth graders started off the year slaying Dragons for a king and running through the Summer in brand-new sneakers. They discussed the idea of living forever with “Hieddegger’s Experiment” and wrote the ending to an adventure after reading “The Storm.” They immigrated to America with Esperanza and her family as they traveled through Esperanza Rising and sleuthed their way through The Westing Game to find out who murdered Sam Westing all while analyzing clues that grew exponentially with each cliffhanger-ed chapter. It was great to see them figure out “whodunnit” while not getting sidetracked by red herrings. They recently dipped their toes into dystopian literature with Among the Hidden. It was eye-opening to identify dystopian controls and characteristics as we read. Overall, the students loved the book and are looking forward to exploring the genre further next year when they read The Giver. We are finishing out the year with a creative response to a Spooky Story prompt. The wheels are turning and the spookier the story, the more focused they become!
It has been a year of growth and challenges and the students have met all with interest and curiosity. Overall, it’s been a great school year and I look forward to watching them soar into their next chapters.